Email is now the de facto way to communicate information quickly efficiently and economically. It’s an excellent alternative to congestion and delays in post. It can also be used to avoid overloaded phone lines, fax machines and interruptions in the fax machine. However, when it comes to sharing confidential documents, the ease of email hides many inherent dangers. Once your sensitive data leaves your server there is no way to monitor what happens to it or who has access to it. Even if you have encrypted your emails, which adds an extra layer to security, this may not be enough protection to protect you from man-in-the middle attacks.
Cybercriminals may use confidential information in customer documents to commit identity theft and other illegal activities. Cyberattacks on email servers may also result in the destruction or theft of files.
It’s possible to exchange confidential documents safely via email, provided you follow certain best practices and have a NDA in place. Limiting the number of identifiable information included in an email, using password-protected attachments and adding a confidentiality statement automatically in your signature are some easy ways to increase security for emails.
Email providers such as Gmail or Outlook offer S/MIME encryption to provide a greater level of security. This lets users sign digitally attachments and emails. This ensures the integrity of the document, and protects it against “man-in-the middle” attacks. This method also requires a certified certificate to be installed on the computer of the recipient and can add an additional layer of security.